Nalini Singh - Shards of Hope

Book 14 in the Psy-Changelings series, published June 2, 2015.
Genre: paranormal romance
Cover: love it



Awakening wounded in a darkened cell, their psychic abilities blocked, Aden and Zaira know they must escape. But when the lethal soldiers break free from their mysterious prison, they find themselves in a harsh, inhospitable landscape far from civilization. Their only hope for survival is to make it to the hidden home of a predatory changeling pack that doesn't welcome outsiders. And they must survive.
A shadowy enemy has put a target on the back of the Arrow squad, an enemy that cannot be permitted to succeed in its deadly campaign. Aden will cross any line to keep his people safe for this new future, where even an assassin might have hope of a life beyond blood and death and pain.
Zaira has no such hope. She knows she's too damaged to return from the abyss. Her driving goal is to protect Aden, protect the only person who has ever come back for her no matter what. This time, even Aden's passionate determination may not be enough - because the emotionless chill of Silence existed for a reason. For the violent, and the insane, and the irreparably broken ...like Zaira.


It is hard knowing that everyone around you has read and fallen in love with this book, while you are still waiting for the paperback to come out. That is one of my pet-peeves with the publishing world, when a series you absolutely love switches from paperback to hardcover halfway through the series. And as I just don't want to buy hardcovers, I have to wait a long time for the paperback. Hardcovers are just too expensive, they take too much shelf space, and are more heavy to hold while reading.

So, the last day of 2015, finally the paperback was lying on my doormat when I came home from the office. And of course, I had to start reading it immediately. I only noticed it was 12.00 at night, when the noise of the fireworks outside suddenly became more heavy. And I just kept on reading …

It was an amazing story, very intense, with characters that are so well written you totally understand them. Zaira who is so much wounded inside thanks to her psychopath parents, and her Arrow training. But Aden has always been there for her, and he is everything to her. She will protect him from herself if she must. Silence has fallen, and emotions are allowed again, and so very very carefully people are starting to relax, to live, and even to love. It was so heart warming to read about.
I also loved the part where Zaira and Aden were with the changeling pack, and that little leopard cub Jojo stole my heart. Aden was struggling so much with how to change the Arrow way of life, and he had the courage to ask Remi for help, in how to raise potentially dangerous children, without pain and fear.

Of course new enemies pop out of the woodwork, determined to put the world back into chaos for their own profit. Aden and the Arrows are their main target, but they are also messing with the BlackSea Changelings. Trying to turn allies into enemies, and that could have very well worked if the different groups didn’t communicate with each other.

Against this wonderful new world building, turning the Arrows into a whole different kind of community, the hunt for a Psy killer, and especially the desperate search for an abducted Changeling child, the slowly developing romance between Aden and Zaira is the focus and it was absolutely beautiful to read. This was an amazing story, and definitely one I will read again and again.

I am absolutely looking forward how this world will develop further. Can humans, Changelings and Psy really work together for a better world for all?

10 stars.

© 2016 Reviews by Aurian